Black Mountain Ale House receives support for free meals
Community Foundation of Western North Carolina gives $5,000 to PubCorps
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
Anita Elliott arranges to-go bags of family-style meals at the Black Mountain Ale House on March 26. The downtown restaurant has been offering free food to residents impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Fred McCormick
As the clock struck 4 p.m. on March 26, Black Mountain Ale House general manager Brian Hough worked alone in the kitchen preparing Italian sausage paninis to fill waves of orders for family-style meals.
Between a rush of phone calls, front-of-house manager Anita Elliott placed the pre-packaged meals on a heavily sanitized table just outside the back door.
“Some days get really busy right at this time,” said Elliott, one of the last two employees remaining at the popular downtown restaurant after the COVID-19 pandemic forced restaurants across the country to cease dine-in service. “Yesterday, we had fried chicken sandwiches and they were gone almost immediately.”
More than 500 people have taken advantage of the service, which began March 18, when owner John Richardson announced his plan to offer free carry-out meals, in an effort to help area residents impacted by the crisis. An Emergency and Disaster Response Fund grant from the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina will give that initiative a boost.
Richardson, who opened the Ale House nine years ago, chose to offer free food to community members after making one of the most difficult decisions he’s ever made.
“I had just laid off 22 people,” he said. “I can’t pay them, but as long as I have food at the Ale House, we’re going to cook it and we’ll give it to them. We want to make sure that nobody is going hungry.”
Extending the offer to the community at-large, was the next logical step, said Richardson, who launched PubCorps, a nonprofit organization aimed at mobilizing volunteers to help feed people in need, in late 2019.
“It’s just as easy to cook for 100 people as it is to cook for 20,” he said. “And, this is a way that we can help the community while keeping some of my staff employed.”
Black Mountain Ale House and PubCorps founder John Richardson. Courtesy photo
PubCorps packaged more than 175,000 servings in its first few months of operation, before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the organizations to cancel a pair of events that were designed to package 400,000 meals for hungry area residents. But, Richardson found a way for PubCorps to continue serving the community during the crisis.
“I’m constantly looking for funding sources for PubCorps, and I learned that funding was available through (the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina),” he said. “Since we started serving free meals at the Ale House, I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me and ask how they could get involved. I’ve told them to contribute to the PubCorps Impact Fund to pay it forward. One hundred percent of that goes to pay for the food for our meal-packing event.”
Ale House has handed out an average of around 100 meals per day so far, according to Richardson. The $5,000 CFWNC grant will help subsidize the operation going forward.
“I’d been paying for the meals out of my own pocket,” he said. “We were doing that because we felt it was the right thing to do. This grant will help offset that and allow us to keep doing it.”
His feeling of obligation to step up in a time of crisis was directly linked to the service staff he was forced to let go, he said.
“People in the service industry, especially in Black Mountain, do it because they love to serve, not because they’re getting rich,” Richardson said. “For these folks, it’s a lifestyle. They do it because it’s what they do. And they’re struggling right now.”
While a stay-at-home order in Buncombe County will continue to have a massive impact on the local economy, Richardson said his focus is on the health of the community.
“This is scary,” he said of the COVID-19 outbreak. “I’m having to isolate myself, because I’m in the high-risk population, so the only way we’re going to beat this is for everyone to stay at home. We have to stop right now, slow down and reevaluate what’s important.”
However, PubCorps will continue to seek opportunities to serve whatever needs continue to arise in the days ahead.
“We operate with an ‘abundance mentality’ instead of one of scarcity,” Richardson said. “If we all work together, and look out for one another, there will be enough.”
Need a meal?
Black Mountain Ale House is offering free family-styled meals to area residents impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Carry-out orders are available from 4 - 7 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, and can be made by calling (828) 669-9090. For more information visit the Black Mountain Ale House Facebook page.